Lu Na tried to grab onto anything as she fell, but all she could grab was the loose earth right below her. Luckily, her fall wasn’t a fast descent into the ground but a slow one buoyed by the very earth wall she sat on.

When Lu Na finally reached the ground, she realized two things. One, she should test nothing so high up. If she fell and hurt herself, no one would be around to help her.

Two, her spirit skin dissolved the bonds within the earth wall technique. It’s why it turned to dirt right under her butt.

The only worry she had with her spirit skin was that it was too close to her. What if a spirit threw a technique at her that also contained something hard? Wouldn’t it smash into her despite the spirit skin?

That’s when Lu Na tested her other defensive ward. She clenched her left fist and raised it in front of her. She opened it, as if she was telling someone to stop.

An earth wall sprang up in front of her with a spirit wall wrapping itself around it like a spirit skin. This was something she’d wanted to perfect for a while and with Nugua’s help, she could do it. But without her shaping it, they interfered with each other constantly. It took a lot longer than she thought she needed but she finally got it to work. And it was all thanks to the pattern found on the pipe. All she had to do was make sure the earth wall pushed the spirit wall away just a little bit.

This labyrinth was truly a treasure trove of inspiration for Lu Na. Even if they saved her mother, she was going to come back and learn as much as she could. There were so many more things she could do.

Finally, she wanted to test out the tiger claw technique. She changed it to make it easier. Lu Na clenched her left fist and punched forward. Tiger claws came out of her fist. The more she punched, the stronger they got.

The technique smashed against the labyrinth’s wall. At first, the first strike barely did anything. The next continuous strikes gouged deeper and deeper holes into the wall.

Lu Na figured she didn’t want to kill anyone with the strongest attack. And also what if she missed her intended target and hit some poor bystander? That wouldn’t be fair to that person or spirit.

Lu Na touched the bracelet and it was only as warm as her own skin. This improvement made it not only easier to use, but she now had a way to fight.

“Ooh, now that’s a powerful bracelet,” Jie said.

Lu Na clenched her fist and twisted it right, forming the spirit skin on herself. She turned to see Jie staring directly at her. The spirit looked different.

Jie now stood on all fours, looking like the boars that led them into the village. She had a gray hide and a pink snout. The biggest difference was that she was much smaller, only reaching a little bit over Lu Na’s head.

Jie snorted.

“You’re rather jumpy. I said I’d let you leave. I meant it. But your inventions are definitely something else. The only time I ever saw anything like that was from my first summoner.”

“Oh? You were bonded with an inventor like me?” Lu Na flicked her left hand, turning off the spirit skin.

“Yes, this was before you humans bound us within your own spirit realms. He was a nice boy, but unlike you he was more friendly. He made friends everywhere he went. He even made friends with the last Xia Emperor. It’s how he convinced him to build this labyrinth as a refuge from spirits.”

“Refuge from spirits?”

Jie padded over to the claw marks.

“I’ll tell you my story if you can tell me if there are any limits to your bracelet. Can you keep casting your technique without getting tired?”

Lu Na hid her bracelet back within her sleeve. The last thing she needed was for Jie to figure out how it worked.

“No, it’s got a limit. The null metal powers my wards, but it takes time to charge from the ambient spirit energy. So as long as I have enough spirit energy, I can keep casting.”

Of course, the other limit was how long the ward themselves would last. Lu Na knew that if she were to keep using her wards to cast, they would eventually break down. The new ones she drew on red paper would last longer as they used a special mix and blend, but they weren’t immortal either.

“So if we were to fight right now, you’d be able to use those wards of yours indefinitely?” Jie turned to face Lu Na. She snorted and raked the floors a few times with her hooves.

“Maybe. It also depends on how strong your techniques are. I’ve only been able to test them against a stage two summoner. Anything above that might wipe me out in an instant.”

“How about we try it?” Jie put her head down and charged.

Lu Na was ready for this. She clenched her left hand and then opened it in front of her, as if pushing the air. An earth wall erupted from the ground and was surrounded by a spirit skin right afterwards.

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As soon as the wall stabilized, Lu Na turned and ran back toward the teahouse. She flicked her wrist to the left as she ran away, raising earth walls behind her.

A loud thud hit the first wall. Lu Na didn’t expect that to stop Jie so easily, or maybe Jie didn’t expect the spirit skin.

Jie turned into a large boar just like the ones they saw earlier and leaped over the wall. To Lu Na’s horror, Jie used the other walls she constructed as steps and rushed over on all fours. With every step, she crushed the walls like sandcastles on the beach.

“This is a little stronger than a test. I thought you promised to let us go!” Lu Na turned her wrist to the left and focused on an image in her head. She didn’t hold back this time and used as much of the spirit energy still left in the null metal.

Stone rose from the ground, but instead of blocking for Lu Na, she pushed it at Jie. The wall became dome-like as it shot at Jie with unnatural speed. It closed all around the prancing boar spirit.

“You also promised to help us. But you’re working for the soldiers, aren’t you?” Jie yelled.

“What are you talking about?”

“My villagers were all kidnapped while I showed you around. Where are they? Give me back my villagers!”

What was Jie talking about? Lu Na was not working with the soldiers. Was that why she was going crazy?

Either way, Lu Na would not wait to see if the earth wall dome will hold the spirit. She ran as fast as she could toward the teahouse. She had to warn the others and get them out before the boar spirit crushed the teahouse, or worse, used her techniques to trap them inside again.

The bracelet was now hot to the touch. Luckily, it wasn’t burning her as it would have before. There can still be more improvements to be made.

The boar spirit burst out of the earth dome prison, green spirit blood oozing out of its ears. It roared, and all the buildings burst to life.

In an instant, all the walls shed its dirty exterior as new wood sprouted underneath. It grew extra branches all around, like it was wearing clothes.

No. They were wearing armor.

Some branches turned into spears and shields. But how would they move? They’re buildings!

Large tree trunks pushed the buildings up like legs. They lumbered a bit, trying to get their balance. Some had four legs just like the boar spirit.

Lu Na was close to the tea house now. It didn’t turn into the same monstrosity, but there were branches blocking the door.

Lu Na hammered on the door.

“Sun Ren, Hen Li, Baihu, anyone! Get out. Jie has gone mad.”

Large branches shot out from the side of the teahouse and wrapped themselves around Lu Na. She couldn’t move and they were squeezing tight. No matter how many times she shook her left wrist, nothing happened. None of her wards activated.

The wooden window burst outward. A flash of metal met with the attacking branches. The sword sliced through the branches like tofu, creating a large X mark.

Seconds later, Baihu burst out of the window in her fox form. She used her tail to carry a still unconscious Hen Li.

Sun Ren climbed out.

“What did you do this time?”

“Nothing! Jie went crazy and attacked me while I was testing my inventions,” Lu Na said.

Sun Ren snorted. With a few swift swings, she cut Lu Na loose from the teahouse’s embrace.

“We’ll talk later about your ability to attract danger.”

Before Lu Na could say anything else, she saw Jie waving at her from the side of the teahouse.

“What’s going on Jie?” Lu Na asked. “Why are you attacking me?”

Jie said nothing. She waved her hand, beckoning them to follow.

“Should we follow her?”

“I think we should.” Sun Ren pointed toward the large boar spirit. “If we don’t, that thing’s going to charge us. Where was that hiding?”

Lu Na turned to see the boar spirit huffing at them.

“Wait, how is that possible? I just saw Jie by the teahouse. She can’t be in two places at once.”

“Whatever is going on, I think it’s safer to follow the human Jie away from that spirit rather than die standing here.” Sun Ren sheathed her sword.

Baihu led the way as she carried the brawny monk on its tail as if he weighed nothing. Sun Ren dashed alongside her spirit. Lu Na shook her wrist from the uncomfortable heat before running after them.

The large boar took two leaps toward them and caught up, smashing through the tea house without stopping. Parts of the house clung to the spirit as it bounded toward the group.

The human Jie led them to a small tunnel hidden away behind another wall. It was an optical illusion as when Lu Na looked at it from afar; it looked like it was one large wall of the labyrinth. Jie didn’t follow them in.

Lu Na turned back to her.

“Leave with us. You can’t control that spirit.”

Jie smiled and shook her head. She patted Lu Na on the head before walking out to face the oncoming charge.

Lu Na didn’t understand Jie, but thought that her desire to protect her village was honorable. She couldn’t watch as she got trampled by a raging spirit.

Lu Na pulled out two wards from her chest pocket. One earth wall and the other spirit wall. She focused as hard as she could on the shape she wanted and threw them in front of Jie. A large earth wall pushed up from the ground, rising to the roof. The spirit wall tried to form around Jie, but it fizzled on the ground.

“Jie!” Lu Na wanted to pull the woman back to safety, but the spirit had charged right into the earth wall, toppling it and sending large clumps of solid earth flying everywhere.

Lu Na ducked back into the tunnel, avoiding a large clump smacking right where she stood. She clenched her left fist and twisted left out of reflex. Luckily, another earth wall sprang up to cover the tunnel just in time before a large chunk of her earlier earth wall slammed into it.

Because her earth wall was still activated, it absorbed the chunk of earth into itself. But it was still not enough. The earth wall shattered, showering Lu Na with dirt.

Lu Na kept her left fist clenched, holding onto the earth wall technique for as long as she could. The dirt kept pushing into the small tunnel. It would have crushed Lu Na if she didn’t form the wall around herself into a dome.

After a short while, everything stopped. It was quiet, except for the shifting of the dirt all around her earth wall.

It was hard to breathe.

Lu Na realized that there was no air coming in here. Her first instinct was to collapse her earth wall, but then that would collapse all the dirt around her.

She was buried alive and it was completely dark.